What NOT to do when installing speakers in your CB

[AhYesCB7]

Just wanted to share some photos of what I found behind the door panels of my CB when I got it home. Don't do stuff like this and you wont have to wonder why your front speakers wont work properly if at all.




DONT use duct tape to hold them in when you have the wrong size speakers.
DONT just twist the bare copper strands around the terminals of the speaker.
DONT run the wire behind your door panel into the cab like you see here.

DO buy the right size speakers.
DO route the wire through the stock grommet or at least tap into the wires inside the car before the door.
DO terminate the connections properly.

You folks who take your car audio and electrical seriously should get a kick out of that.

[apalileo]

Just when you think you've seen it all. Even without access to the correct sized speakers, there are far more effective ways of mounting them than this. There was zero logic and ingenuity shown here. Good luck undoing the mess!

[dhill_cb7]

Wow, I laughed out loud. Is this real? Did you buy it from a kid or was this done at a reputable shop!?!?
That is the craziest set up I have ever seen.

Good luck sorting out the mess. Wonder what else was rigged up on the car?

[cp[mike]]

All I can say is WOW. This one is really up there with the best of them, in terms of rigged installs..

[AhYesCB7]

Yeah its real alright, luckily this seems to be the only rigged stuff on the car, the rest of it seems to be unmolested.

I was at the pick and pull and saw a CB which had wire nuts being used as spacers for the speakers lol. This same vehicle had an extention cord as the power wire and a home service panel 20 amp breaker as the fuse... under the radio inside the cab lol...

[Ghostwhite]

This is one of the banes of used cars, this is definitely one of the strangest.

[Raf99]

Awww.. i thought this was a game. But you win. That's a newbie move there.

[Jon]

Dude, that aint no n00b move... they clearly used black duct tape, so they had some insight as to what they were doing (silver might have shown through).

[Raf99]

Dude, that aint no n00b move... they clearly used black duct tape, so they had some insight as to what they were doing (silver might have shown through).

lol, i use black duct tape to hold the plastic down on the inside of my door. works good.

[sonikaccord]

That's impressive. I rate it a C+ install.

It would have been a B+ if they actually sealed up the whole cavity with duct tape.

[illinois_erik]

hahaha, at least yours didnt have wires no longer then 7 inches of different gauges connected with a twist and duct tape.

[F22Chris]

This seems more difficult than doing it correctly..

[Jarrett]

I certainly don't have you beat, but given the comparison handicap of mine having been done by Best Buy, I'd say it's up there.

I bought my most recent CL in November of 2015 from a Best Buy employee who worked in the Magnolia section. He provided receipts of the audio installation from his Best Buy store stating what had been done. My first clue as to what was hiding under the door panel should have been the way the amps were mounted (they weren't, though they appeared to be when I bought it. Investigating the wiring it seems they cut the connector for the factory amp and wire nutted new speaker wires from those to go to the aftermarket one. I'm fine with this except for the lack of cleanliness and the freaking wire nuts.

Then, this is under the doors. No crimping or soldering anywhere. Just some twisting-even of the most minute amount of wire-then some electrical tape. Again, this is Best Buy's work through their audio installation department. So embarassing.



This just pulled apart, but you can see there were barely enough strands to make a connection, anyway.







I replaced the wood screws with plastic spacer rings and foam speakers cups to prevent any vibrations. If I can do it, with next to zero experience with this stuff, why can't the professionals?

[Ghostwhite]

That looks pretty hack Jarrett.

I am not surprised by the Best Buy stories, I have talked to a few guys who worked there and their standards seemed hit or miss on work ethic.

The first stereo system I ever installed some 15+ years ago was done with wire twisting and lots of tape, its laughable how much easier and more reliable it would have been to solder but I didn't have the right influences/resources at the time.

[EG9]

It’s a shame when folks try to cut corners and usually for nothing more to save a couple bucks or a few minutes. Just spend the money, take the time and do it right.........

At least you’ll get it right now.